Allway Spring Loaded Safety Knife = Fewer Accidental Cuts

Review by popsrocks in Books, Restaurants & Gourmet, Home and Garden in Hotels & Travel in Books, Home and Garden

December, 04 2009

Pros: a safe knife to useblade depth can be adjusted once

Cons: not good with sheet rock.

This Allway Safety Knife that is made out of a tough plastic was designed and machines with the safety of the user in mind and also to cut down time on jobs and added costs due to injury. This knife is considered a specialty knife and is NOT found in many retails stores. It can be found on line easily.

The Allway Spring loaded safety knife has a blade that is always hidden inside thew body of the knife, much like a turtle's head hides inside its shell if it feels threatened. The blade must be pushed out for every cut by forward thumb pressure. The blade is designed to be pushed forward by either right or left handed people.

Once the blade is visible it should be brought directly to the work. The cut is started with the blade and when put into material to be cut the thumb is backed off and into a better leverage position.

The blade continues to cut as the hand pulls the knife body across the material being cut. Once the blade finishes the cut and is out of the material the blade automatically retracts into the plastic housing.

It stays in that safety zone until the thumb pushes the blade forward again and placed into the next cut. Changing the blade is literally a snap. A plastic piece in the back is pushed and the knife comes apart. It is machined well and snaps back together, again, in a snap.

I was first introduced to a knife much like this one (it was made of a metal) about twenty years ago when I first started working for the Home Depot for seven years. Their employees, as do those of other companies, use this type knife to help keep injuries down. I found the knife a bit clumsy to use at first not getting the push and anchoring into the cardboard timing right. In time "I got it." Now it comes naturally.

This knife is of slightly different design than that one I used back then but even though this is plastic it works well and seems tough. I like that the front blade depth can be changed to a deeper cut by snapping the front guard. That makes for a cleaner cut in most cases and less effort scoring two and three times.

I happen to like the Allway Safety Knife. It is easy to use and is a safe box type knife to use. This though is not good on sheet rock. the top score is fine but trying to make a cut of the under-paper doesn't work well. Otherwise for cutting up cardboard, it's a good and safe tool.